Eating At Disneyland and an Upcoming Vacation
We went to Disneyland yesterday. Wouldn't normally go in April, but there were a handful of things I wanted to see, the main thing being the Food and Wine Festival, or I should say just Food Festival because neither of us drink. We didn't ride any rides, but that was OK because riding wasn't necessarily my intention for this visit. Although, I wanted to go on Pirates and Autopia, the latter because they added some new things. Autopia is sponsored by Honda now. Before it was Chevron. They added the Asimo robot to the ride. The lines for both rides were too long, but I went around to look at the track and you could see Asimo from off-ride anyway. :P I also wanted to go in the Pieces-of-Eight store by Pirates to see if they had any 50th anniversary merchandise there. Yep, fifty years since Pirates first opened. There was nothing though and the lady at the cash register said they actually sold out of it on the very first day. Wow. No matter though.
So, then we went over to DCA to experience the Food Festival. We walked down and looked at all of the kiosks. Each one is dedicated to a specific food, and each kiosk has three items on the menu to choose from -- two small entrees and a dessert usually. I decided to get something from the I Heart Artichokes kiosk. I got this fried artichoke carbonara, which included parmasean cheese and bacon, but no one told me it was going to be spicy with little chili flakes. My tongue was on fire, but it was yummy. My mom got the grilled beef tenderloin slider with chimichurri sauce from Garlic Kissed. It was a struggle to find a place that was free to sit down to eat, but we managed. Then my mom wanted to try other things. I actually wanted to go across the way for a special dessert in Fantasyland. But I'll get to that soon. My mom went a little nuts getting things from the kiosks, but hey it was fun. She got the Vanilla bean crème fraîche panna cotta with Amarena cherry jus and EVOO madeleine from Olive Us, which I shared with her and it was a good light dessert. Then she decided to get the Braised Wagyu beef on creamy polenta with haricot vert and red onion salad and roasted Cipollini onion from the Onion Lair (I copy pasted these foods from a blog btw :P). I wasn't going to have more than a bite this time, and of course just one bite of the polenta threw me over the edge, though I had more than one bite. :P Finally, my mom then got the Meyer lemon macaron with blueberry marmalade, Meyer lemon cream and blueberry dust from Lemon Grove to smuggle into Disneyland. Luckily no one stopped her.
So, the other dessert I wanted to get was at the new Red Rose Tavern (the restaurant got a new name and is now themed to Beauty and the Beast). They have the Grey Stuff there, famously mentioned in the song "Be Our Guest." I was eager to find out what it was and how it tasted. So what the Grey Stuff is is a white chocolate mousse, with red velvet cake and raspberry center, and it all sits atop a shortbread cookie. I'm not a big fan of raspberries, but it was good. :) My mom had her macaron and I tried a bite of it. Not really my cup-of-tea. Weird texture.
We ended the day, which went from about 11 am to 3pm. We weren't going to spend very long anyway and we wasted a lot of time walking around lol. I wanted to go to the World of Disney store for one last thing because they had new Bambi Tsum Tsums out, so I got myself Flower and Thumper. :) Disneyland's just too insane in April with Spring Breaks, the festival, easter egg hunts and whatnot, so perhaps early May might be a little less crazy.
In other news, we, including my brother and my parents, are going on a little mini vacation to San Diego again from the 23rd to the 26th, so that should be a nice little getaway. It's actually for my parents' anniversary, but they're letting us come along. There's no telling what the weather will be like though. It could be warm or it could be cold. Last time we went there on vacation around this time it was nice until the last day, which was raining. I guess I'll have to do a trip report once we get back.
So, then we went over to DCA to experience the Food Festival. We walked down and looked at all of the kiosks. Each one is dedicated to a specific food, and each kiosk has three items on the menu to choose from -- two small entrees and a dessert usually. I decided to get something from the I Heart Artichokes kiosk. I got this fried artichoke carbonara, which included parmasean cheese and bacon, but no one told me it was going to be spicy with little chili flakes. My tongue was on fire, but it was yummy. My mom got the grilled beef tenderloin slider with chimichurri sauce from Garlic Kissed. It was a struggle to find a place that was free to sit down to eat, but we managed. Then my mom wanted to try other things. I actually wanted to go across the way for a special dessert in Fantasyland. But I'll get to that soon. My mom went a little nuts getting things from the kiosks, but hey it was fun. She got the Vanilla bean crème fraîche panna cotta with Amarena cherry jus and EVOO madeleine from Olive Us, which I shared with her and it was a good light dessert. Then she decided to get the Braised Wagyu beef on creamy polenta with haricot vert and red onion salad and roasted Cipollini onion from the Onion Lair (I copy pasted these foods from a blog btw :P). I wasn't going to have more than a bite this time, and of course just one bite of the polenta threw me over the edge, though I had more than one bite. :P Finally, my mom then got the Meyer lemon macaron with blueberry marmalade, Meyer lemon cream and blueberry dust from Lemon Grove to smuggle into Disneyland. Luckily no one stopped her.
So, the other dessert I wanted to get was at the new Red Rose Tavern (the restaurant got a new name and is now themed to Beauty and the Beast). They have the Grey Stuff there, famously mentioned in the song "Be Our Guest." I was eager to find out what it was and how it tasted. So what the Grey Stuff is is a white chocolate mousse, with red velvet cake and raspberry center, and it all sits atop a shortbread cookie. I'm not a big fan of raspberries, but it was good. :) My mom had her macaron and I tried a bite of it. Not really my cup-of-tea. Weird texture.
We ended the day, which went from about 11 am to 3pm. We weren't going to spend very long anyway and we wasted a lot of time walking around lol. I wanted to go to the World of Disney store for one last thing because they had new Bambi Tsum Tsums out, so I got myself Flower and Thumper. :) Disneyland's just too insane in April with Spring Breaks, the festival, easter egg hunts and whatnot, so perhaps early May might be a little less crazy.
In other news, we, including my brother and my parents, are going on a little mini vacation to San Diego again from the 23rd to the 26th, so that should be a nice little getaway. It's actually for my parents' anniversary, but they're letting us come along. There's no telling what the weather will be like though. It could be warm or it could be cold. Last time we went there on vacation around this time it was nice until the last day, which was raining. I guess I'll have to do a trip report once we get back.